Quiet Time
by nannygirl
Summary: When Red became a grandfather, everyone expected him to stay as far away as possible from the baby, instead the opposite happens. During a family gathering, a curious Jackie decides to ask him about it.


_**Disclaimer:**_ _I own nothing! I do not own That '70s Show or any of it's characters. I own nothing!_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Hello everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well. I know it's been a while and I am very sorry about that, the first month back at work is always a bit hectic and tends to drain me of my writing inspiration. But I'm back now and have for you a short little oneshot. It's based off a headcanon that I shared over on my tumblr page in honor of Grandparents week. I wrote it with my fic 'Party Crashers' in mind but you don't have to read the story to understand what's going on in this one. It's just a fluffy, sweet piece that I hope you like. Please do review if you can, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by to read, hope you like, and as always, Enjoy!_

* * *

"Mr. Forman, you're so cute," Jackie gushed with a grin.

She was sitting on the living room sofa with her elbow propped on the armrest and her hand holding her cheek, watching a scene that just about melted her heart.

Red scowled at the young woman and the doe-y like eyes she was staring at him with. "No, I'm not."

"Well, you are when you're holding my cute little baby," she pointed out, with a growing smile.

Her cheeks were starting to ache from smiling so much but Jackie just couldn't stop smiling if she tried. So, she just sat there smiling as she watched the small bundle that was her two month old son, cuddled up against his Grandpa Red's chest, napping peacefully—and more importantly quietly. Jackie had never been a fan of silence but since sharing a home with a newborn she had soon learned to appreciate the serenity that came with silence.

Rolling his eyes, Red tried to focus on the football game playing on his TV set but he could still feel the loud one's eyes on him and from the corner of his eye he could spot that big grin of hers and it was all starting to make him feel more than a little uncomfortable.

"Would you stop smiling like that," his words sounded more like an order rather than a suggestion.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Forman, I can't help it," Jackie tried to explain, smile still in place. "Watching you holding my son, your grandson, it's so sweet. I can't help smiling."

"That's what Kitty say," he grumbled his reply.

"See! And you know it's not just me and Mrs. Forman who notice it, everyone else does too. Eric was just saying how becoming grandpa has made you into a big softie."

The revelation that his kids were starting to see him a 'softie' did not seem to sit with Red.

"I'm not soft," he barked. "I can still kick all their asses."

Red's loud booming voice made Baby Daniel squirm just a bit but before he could start crying or wake up fully, Red placed a calming gentle hand on the infants back to help soothe him back into his slumber. Jackie saw all of this but with Mr. Forman being so defensive about being seen as a softie she decided to keep the observation to herself.

"I know you can and I'm sure they do too," assured Jackie. "I think they're just surprised by how much you've bonded with Daniel. We all thought you sorta hated babies."

"I don't hate…"Red stopped himself for a moment; he may not have been the type to ask to peek into to every baby buggy he saw on the street but that didn't mean he hated babies…didn't mean he loved them either. "I don't hate babies that I know."

Jackie nodded her head, she could understand that. And her son was most certainly a baby that Red Forman knew, he'd been there since the day he was born, a day that had also been Red's own birthday. And it would be pretty hard to hate a baby that had part of her DNA. Still, Jackie remained curious about this growing bond Red was forming with Danny.

"Mr. Forman, can I ask you a question?"

"You're still gonna ask if I say 'no' aren't you?" he asked the question he already knew the answer to.

Slowly Jackie's grin started to fade into more of a curious frown and she scooted closer to edge of her seat, hands clasped together like she were conducting a TV interview with Mr. Forman. "You like to hold Daniel a lot. In all the photos Mrs. Forman has taken of him if it's not me or Steven holding him, it's you," she began to explain, unclasping her hands and throwing them in the air as she continued. "Now, it's not a bad thing! But it does make me curious about why you hold him so much. You know, the reasons why."

"Reasons?" repeated a frowning Red. He sounded offended by the idea that he needed to have reasons for wanting to hold his grandchild.

"Yeah," again Jackie nodded her head. "You know like maybe you feel guilty that you didn't hold Eric enough when he was a baby. Or maybe you think you and Daniel share some strong birthday sharing bond kind of thing."

Red shifted in his seat just slightly, mindful of the sleeping infant in his arms. "Fine. You decide which one of those reasons you like best and we'll say it's that one."

Jackie looked back at the balding man with a look that told him that reasoning just wasn't going to cut it.

Baby Danny rocked up and then down as his grandfather let out a steady sigh. "Alright fine, you wanna know why I hold the kid as much as I can?"

"Yes, I do," Jackie was sincere in her answer but when a new thought entered her mind she realized she might need to precede this search with caution. She arched a wry eyebrow, "Wait, you don't do it to like…score some kind of points with Mrs. Forman, do you?"

"No." Red replied just before a smirk cracked onto his lips. "That's just a nice bonus."

Jackie's face twisted in disgust at hearing this response. It was bad enough when Michael had tried to show Fez how they could use Danny to pick up hot chicks but now her poor baby was being used as part of a ploy for old people love. It took all of her willpower to not take her son out of Red's arms, that and the fact that the older man continued with his explanation before Jackie could get up from her seat.

"The reason I hold Danny for as long as I do is because it gets me out of things like that," his right thumb jabbed itself in the direction of the kitchen's swinging door behind him.

"I don't understand."

Red cleared his throat and shifted in his armchair once more before giving his explanation. "Look, all a kid does at this age is eat, sleep, and crap. All I'm doing is taking advantage of that second one."

"How?" she asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Think about it," he began, "A sleeping baby can't be in a noisy room. And as more and more of the freeloaders get here, the room gets nosier. But if I'm holding the kid I can slip out of the room, away from the noise and more importantly the people. And no one—and by no one, I mean Kitty—can say anything because it just looks like I'm leaving the room so that the kid won't wake up."

Eyes wide, Jackie stared at the older man who smirked back at her reaction.

"It gets better. No one follows me out here either and if they do they don't hang around here for too long or try talking to me for too long in fear of waking up the baby." Red gazed down at the sleeping baby and grinned proudly. "This kid is my Get Out of Dumbass-Jail Free Card."

"Wait," Jackie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So, the only reason that you hold my son, _your grandson_ , is because he helps you avoid dealing with people?"

Despite the loud one's outraged sounding tone, Red's softened gaze remained on the warm napping bundle in his arms. "Well that and he is a pretty good kid."

Jackie's anger faded. Red might not say it in so many words but she could both see and feel the tenderness he had for her son and it made her previous grin return. "Yeah, he is."

Her hand reached out and began to softly caress the top Danny's fuzzy head. Sometimes it still amazed her how she could feel so much love for such a tiny little person. Jackie was also very happy that her son was being surrounded by people who loved him too, like his Grandpa Red. As Jackie watched the two of them, she felt a warmth in her chest.

The scene was too precious to not say anything about it; even if Jackie already knew how much Red would hate it.

"You really do look so cute together, Mr. Forman."

Red exhaled an irritable sigh, avoiding eye contact as he did so; Jackie was sure that he was going to argue back with another 'No I don't' statement but instead he turned to look at her, scowling as she suspected, and fired off the question.

"What're you still doing here?" his voice was gruff but not harsh. "I'm taking care of Danny. I can handle him. You go back in there with the dumbasses, eat, talk, go enjoy having a break away from your kid for a while."

"Well, I guess a break would be kind of nice," she felt guilty as soon as the words left her mouth; however, the idea of being able to take more than two bites off a plate of food and being able to use both her hands to eat that food had an appeal she couldn't deny. And watching Red with her child she knew he would watch him and she had nothing to worry about. She smiled and stood up from her seat. "Thank you, Mr. Forman. Enjoy your alone time."

"I'm not alone, I've still got my grandson in here," Red commented making Jackie retreating form stop in her tracks. "We're gonna watch the game, quietly."

It made her happy to hear Mr. Forman's words. Danny was definitely more than just Red's 'Get out of Dumbass-Jail' free card and this proved it.

Jackie smiled, "Enjoy your quiet time, Mr. Forman."

"Oh, I will," he replied, one hand holding the TV's remote control while his other arm remained protectively wrapped around his grandson's tiny sleeping form.

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 _ **Author's Note:**_ _So what did you think? Yay? Nay? Be sure to let me know in a review!_

 _Thanks for stopping by to read the story, hope you liked it and it wasn't too random or overly sweet._

 _For readers of my other stories I do hope to have a new chapter of 'If You Ever Did Believe' up soon! Sorry for the break that fic took, there's more coming and hopefully very soon!_

 _Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!_


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